Olivia Colman. Photo: Soccer Aid for UNICEF, via Wikimedia Commons
In a series of candid interviews for her latest film Jimpa, Olivia Colman, 52, has shared profound reflections on her gender identity, revealing that she has “always felt sort of nonbinary.”
Speaking primarily with the LGBTQ+ publication Them, the Academy Award winner opened up about her internal sense of self and the unique way she relates to her husband of over 20 years, Ed Sinclair.
Colman explained that she has never felt aligned with traditional, rigid gender roles. “Throughout my whole life, I’ve had arguments with people where I’ve always felt sort of nonbinary,” she shared. “I’ve never felt massively feminine in my being female.”
Perhaps the most viral takeaway was her description of her marriage. Colman told Them and LADbible that she has often described herself to her husband as a “gay man.” His response? “Yeah, I get that.” She noted that this understanding makes her feel “at home and at ease.”
Colman emphasized that she doesn’t spend much time with people who are “staunchly heterosexual.” She praised the men in her life for being “very in touch with all sides of themselves,” adding that she and her husband often take turns being the “strong one” or the one who needs “gentleness.”
The timing of these revelations coincides with her role in the film Jimpa, which premiered at Sundance 2026. In the movie, Colman plays a mother named Hannah who travels to Amsterdam with her nonbinary teenager to visit their gay grandfather (played by John Lithgow).
Colman credited the experience of working on the film—and spending time with the trans and nonbinary community—with helping her realize she wasn’t an “oddity.”
